


The Phoenix and The Ylissian

by Ghost_Chan



Series: Fire Emblem Gamer!AU [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Chrobin - Freeform, F/M, Gamer AU - Freeform, Modern AU, More relationships to be developed, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Established Stahl/Cordelia, Slow Build, no beta we die like men!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22193902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost_Chan/pseuds/Ghost_Chan
Summary: An experience gamer who doesn't truly trust anyone outside of her guild. A newb gamer who choose to take the mantle of guild leader to honor the dead. Seems like they have nothing in common, but who knows. In the game of Fire Emblem, anything can happen.
Relationships: Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin, Sort | Stahl/Tiamo | Cordelia, chrobin
Series: Fire Emblem Gamer!AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1597579
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. J'espère

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. It'll be helpful to you if you go back and read the first part of this, which can be found in the series page, by clicking <\- for the previous work, or by going here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19868821. Otherwise you will probably be very confused. I've started a new story because it felt strange to start writing in a story that had been 'completed' long ago.  
> But anyways, enjoy the story! Please R&R, because comments & kudos give me inspiration to write faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> __
> 
> _As a child you would wait  
>  And watch from far away_

Robin didn’t say anything that night as the Plegian Phoenices fought, wanting to do some preliminary research before possibly wasting her guild’s time. If this was something the guild was interested in pursuing, Tharja could gather more research than she could in half the time. But Robin had questions, and wanted _some_ answers. Changing her status to Do Not Disturb and dropping her Discord into the task bar, Robin began her search with the most prominent question in her mind: The Ylissians.

The name ‘The Ylissians’ was familiar for a reason, it turned out. Five years ago, she had been part of the group that had fought in The SemiFinals, and The Ylissians were their competition. One look at the pictures that had been taken during the tournament, of the group, and the memories pulled themselves from the back of her mind in bits and pieces. They Ylissians had been a tough group, their characters emphasizing Speed and Resistance, stats that had proved a challenge to Robin’s old character. Like the then Plegian Dragons, though they weren’t associated with an official organization, they had been ranked highly, and it had taken all five rounds to achieve victory. And they were most acclaimed for having the first female member in a SemiFinal battle, with an unheard of three females members to the five male members.

So why were they now Rank 9, and what had happened to the leader? Robin remember long blonde hair tied in a braid, with a soft face that didn’t look like it belonged at a gaming tournament. A quick check at the team competition info verified that the team leader had been a female Sage under the name of J'espère.

Robin thrummed her desk, staring at the information in front of her. True, guild leaders could change, and it wasn’t uncommon for team members to rotate the position, but there was no Chromium on the list of participants from that tournament. There were scarce reasons to dump a tournament-ready character for a brand-new one, so why?

Something else stuck out to Robin as she continued to browse the public databases. Three years ago, The Ylissians dropped from Rank 2 to Rank 4, and two years ago, they had stopped attending tournaments altogether, and the rank drops followed, until they were now Rank 9. True, they hadn’t dropped to Rank 10, so that had to mean some guild members were active, but the majority of the guild must have ceased playing. Something had happened, but none of the gaming journals said anything. Robin partially expected this, as non-sponsored guilds had a harder time in the spotlight, but the lack of information about the drop piqued Robin’s interest.

Having exhausted the public resources, it was time to take another angle.

Fire Emblem was strict about locking the players’ information behind walls to protect their privacy. Even in tournament you played under your username, but at tournaments, you were exposed to the media. Which meant pictures, which could be reverse searched.

Browsing through photos from the tournament five years ago, and determinedly ignoring the ones of black jackets and hoodies, she found the green and gold jackets of The Ylissians. Pulling several images of the team and storing them in a desktop folder, so she wouldn’t have to search for them again in case Tharja wanted them, Robin isolated the pictures that had the face Robin remembered. Dropped them into the search bar, she began to scan through the information dumped on her.

In a much shorter time period than she had expected, a lead had been located, and she followed it to a small-town newspaper called the Hill Press. The same knowing blue eyes from the pictures of the tournament leapt at Robin from the picture on her screen, a serene smile and beautiful blonde hair illuminated by the sun.

But the article’s contents...were not something Robin had expected.

_Emmeryn R. Emert, 27, passed away at 12:46 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, from injuries sustained in a one vehicle accident that occurred a week earlier. Doctors suspect that latent head trauma from an injury received a year earlier contributed to the accident._

_Emmeryn was born Dec. 23, 1991, in Knoxville, Tn. and was a lifelong area resident in the Serville area. She was studying to be a public defender while working to help support her younger siblings when she passed away._

_She is survived by her brother and sister, Chrom Emert and Lissa Emert, paternal grandfather Tige Emert, as well as many maternal aunts, uncles, and cousins. She is preceded in death by parents Peter and Elizabeth Emert, paternal grandmother Shirley Emert, and maternal grandparents Kenneth and Martha Harwood..._

At this point, Robin stopped reading, instead sitting back in her chair. She didn’t need to read any more.

The familiarity of the situation struck Robin, and she wondered what god had found it funny to mirror the situations of the Plegians and The Ylissians to the extent they had.

Something had happened with the leader, and it had disheartened the guild to the point that, without electing a new leader, many had either quit or stopped playing. The ranks had dropped, causing the guild to fade into the background. Like the Plegians. The exact circumstances were extremely different, but overall...

Sighing, Robin removed her headset, stretched, and began to pace through her small apartment.

Whichever god did this, they had a sick sense of humor, sending Chromium to her guild. Did he come to her randomly, or did he chose the Plegians because of their history? He could have been a secondary character in the guild when the Plegian Dragons fought The Ylissians, but then why wouldn’t he have taken the mantle when J'e-Emmereryn started having issues?

No, there had to be a reason why neither he nor one of the primaries, had become the guild leader, and much later on. But what was it? Did he have a personal connection to Emmeryn? Certainly not to J'espère; the character that had been on her screen was so different than the magic-based blonde-haired female character.

But back to her first question, why the Plegian Phoenices? There were so many other guilds, guilds who did not have the reputation that they did, that Chromium could have gone to. Why a guild with a tarnished history, whose name was taboo? Did he look at the rankings and randomly choose another guild that had a similar reason, or did he come because they were both North American teams?

She was overthinking this. She had to be. It could be as simple as he was in Dolhr on a mission, and saw her. It could be as simple as that.

_Or maybe it wasn’t._

Allying themselves with The Ylissians would bring much needed assistance in resource hunting ( _but what if they decided to screw the Plegians over once an extremely rare item was discovered)_ , and in honing skills ( _but then they would know how to beat us.)_

No. That was something that could be considered later. She had the answers to the most important questions regarding the rank drop and change of leader. The rest could wait until Tharja did some digging, assuming the guild wanted to do this.

And there was no reason for this not to come before the guild for consideration.

_We need this opportunity. Badly._

Pulling up her discord, she moved to the Common_Room, typing out her message and reading it several times before pressing Enter.

Reflekt Today at 11:30 PM @everyone, tomorrow, try to be online around 8 PM. There is something important that needs to be discussed, that everyone needs to hear. No, I will not say what it is, because it is easier if it is explained once. Please try to be in a position where you can at least listen in. It’s nothing serious, but a possible change to the training we’ve been doing.

Questions would come from this, Robin was sure, but hopefully they would respect the decision that all would be explained tomorrow.

Still, the nagging feeling in her stomach wouldn’t go away as the minutes ticked by, so Robin composed a DM to Mustafa.

Reflekt#95851 Today at 11:34 PM M, if you’re able to be online a bit earlier, around 7.30 (?), I’ll explain what’s going on. As I said in the message, it’s nothing serious, but it’s...an interesting proposition that was brought to me. I want to hear your thought on it before moving forward.

If Mustafa had concerns, she would listen to her Second and say no to Chromium’s request.

Still, she should have sent the message to Mustafa first, before possibly wasting her guildmates’ time. Deleting it would be no good. Green dots were next to Tharja and Gaius’ names, meaning they had probably seen the message. Even if it went down and out, there would be questions. What a mess. But it was done, so only now could she move and see what would happen.

What would happen...it was a mystery. Unknown. She didn’t like that. What you couldn’t see would hurt you...Robin had learned that a long time ago...

She thrummed her mouse, thinking of the small flower from the roadside, now sitting in a jar in the guild base, where it had been placed before they had gone hunting, to save space in her inventory. She thought about the easy smile that had been on Chromium’s lips, and how he had held out the flower to her, and how her heart had thudded in her chest.

She thought about how the one she had believed in, had loved, had betrayed everything she thought she knew, leaving her alone in the world, stranded from everything she loved.

Pulling a piece of paper from her stack, she wrote eleven words on the surface, and then taped it to the side of her monitor.

A reminder. A warning.

_“Do not fall for any person who shows you a kindness.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> J'espère - French for "I hope," something that Emmeryn most likely believed in-game, for her siblings and the future of the world.


	2. The Old Ylissians

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This...was going to be a short chapter. And then everyone wanted to talk, and I had to spend some time figuring out in-story game mechanics, so it took longer than I thought.  
> But here it is, the 2nd chapter! Thank you everyone for your support! It means a lot to me! Please leave reviews to tell me your thoughts and what I could do better!  
> Onto the chapter!
> 
>   
> But you always knew that you'd be the one  
> That work while they all play

“...It’s an interesting proposal.” Mustafa said, repeating the phrase he had used in his and Robin’s direct voice chat earlier. “The mechanics for it exist within Fire Emblem, but only casual guilds tend to use it.”

“Yeah, because I don’t know about you, but I’m not too big of a fan about sharing my skillset with possible competition.” Gaius muttered, his voice carrying through Robin’s speakers. The brunette’s headset was sitting off to the side, was she was taking a break from using it for the night.

“But couldn’t that same knowledge be used against them?” Gregor asked, scratching his chin.

“Yeah, you reveal your hand to see theirs?” chirped Nowi, leaning on one hand.

“Why pair up? We’ve been doing pretty awesome by ourselves, don’t you think?” Henry asked.

“Well, we haven’t been doing bad, but we haven’t been doing so good either.” Gaius sighed. “Good tactics and studying doesn’t mean leveling is easy when you’re only doing part-time.”

“We have the _best_ leader and guide, though.” Nowi argued, and while Robin appreciated the sentiment, facts and emotions were not the same.

“Fire Emblem may be more friendly to part-timers than other games, but we’re having to move slowly, in part because of our numbers-”

“-which is no fault of our own.” Mustafa finished. The lack of one additional character was making leveling, hunting, and searching for quests, missions, and resources that were designed for eight or more much harder. Although Fire Emblem’s ‘encouragement to take breaks’ in the form of resource rewards and temporary daily stat boosts helped, not being able to farm as much as possible made the going tough. And having your own life made research into opponents, quests, and updates difficult. Not like the sponsored guilds that could spend as much time as they needed into preparing for tournaments.

In some ways, Robin missed being able to play Fire Emblem full-time, but in most ways, she didn’t. It was better this way. More honest.

...but also more painful.

**_DING!_ **

“I’m back...” Tharja drawled, having turned her mic back on from being muted. At the beginning of Robin’s voice call with the rest of her guild, she had sent Tharja the pictures of The Ylissians from the SemiFinals, and asked her to run a quick check on them, with Emmeryn as a starting point.

“What did you find out?” Robin thrummed her fingers against her mouse pad.

“Long story short, there’s nothing suspicious about them that I can find, _Robin_.” Her name came out as a purr, and goosebumps shot up her spine.

“Long story long?” She offered instead.

“Fine. This is only about the members of the tournament from five years ago, but it looks like they all come from the Southeast part of Tennessee and Western part of North Carolina.” Tharja had dropped into business mode, all teasing and playfulness gone. “Of the eight, four went to school together and graduated within two years of each other.” One of the channels suddenly showed an unread message. Navigating to the Common_Media, Tharja had posted one of the pictures Robin had sent her, the one of the competition team all together. They all looked so happy with each other, completely at ease. Something so long ago Robin had wished for for the team she played on.

“The one on the far left is Cordellia Armi Scheider, Valkyrie. Commonly appearing as a Kinshi Knight. But with classes in Falcon Knight, Dark Flier, Hero, and Bow Knight.”

“She’s very knightly.” Henry cackled, only to be shushed by Nowi.

“I wanna hear.” Tharja continued as if she had not been interrupted.

“She was their main Scout. Graduated top of her high school class in the same year as Emmeryn.” The woman had long red hair, a bashful look on her face, but Robin knew not to judge abilities by the face. Valkyrie had been one of the biggest challenges to Robin’s old character. “She married Stahl Scheider, Ironwill, while in college. He’s the one next to her.” The man had a goofy grin on his baby face, brown hair a mop. “It says she and Stahl met in an online community. Which was probably Fire Emblem.”

“That’s so sweet.” Nowi cooed. Tharja sighed.

“He took classes in Paladin, Sniper, Ranger, and Bow Knight-”

“Two knights walk into a bar-”

“ _Henry!_ ”

“Aw, com’mon. Lemme tell _at least_ one.”

“Very well.” Mustafa agreed.

“ _One._ ” Tharja said flatly.

“Okay, okay, what do you call a knight in a cannibal village?” There was no response. “Canned food!! Hahaha!”

“Ewww!” Nowi squealed, waving her hands in front of her cheeks.

“That was something.” Gregor muttered.

“Thank you.” Tharja continued, unamused. “His primary class is Swordsmaster, making him a Ranger or Fighter. Depending on the battle. He graduated college as an architect, and Cordellia graduated in psychology. She’s a student counselor in Knoxville, he works from home, where he looks after their daughter, Severa.”

“So they’re a stereotypical white family, from the sound of it. Well, except that she’s the one who leaves the house every morning.” Gaius commented, leaning back in his chair.

“Be nice to them. Don’t speak of them behind the backs.” Gregor chided.

“Don’t speak of what you don’t know.” Mustafa reminded them.

“Please continue, Tharja.” Robin tapped her mousepad, not acknowledging the side conversations.

“Next is Forrester, Donnel ‘Donny’ Gump. Their primary Fighter, he switches between Master of Arms and Hero, with Warrior, Blacksmith, and Mechanist skills. An alternative Support.” The next boy with a backwards baseball cap was grinning, hooking arms with another boy about his age, if not younger.

“That’s an interesting mix-up. You don’t see many Fighters with Support classes.” Gaius noted.

“That would help with item creation.” Mustafa hummed in thought.

“Because of fort system?” Gregor asked.

“Exactly.”

“He comes from a big family, eight kids, and is the youngest. However, his father was killed in a shoot-out when Donnel was nine. He was a cop, and had some enemies.” A moment of silence on from all mics, and Tharja continued. “It looks like the mother, Jenny Gump, raised her children on her on, with help from some close relatives, and they all graduated high school.”

A clapping sound came through the speakers, and a quick glance at the list showed it was coming from Gregor’s side.

“Good for them.” The man approved.

“Yeah, good for them.” Nowi cheered, joining in on the clapping. When they were done, Tharja continued, though a bit softer now.

“From the looks of it, his mother has had some health problems recently, and Donnel’s the one taking care of her, since he’s still living at home. This means he probably isn’t as active as he once was. Maybe even dropped entirely.”

“Noted.” Robin said, and knew she wasn’t the only one marking this.

“The man next to him is Freddy Clearwater, Longhorn, who was their Shield. Primarily a General, he often times switched into a Great Knight, with Paladin, Sage, and War Cleric support classes in the background.”

“Those last two are pretty clever, though it must have been difficult to put experience in.” Mustafa voiced Robin’s thoughts.

“Points into Magic are useless, but would definitely cover Resistance pretty well though.” Gaius agreed, to which Nowi and Henry ooh-ed in understanding.

“He went to high school with Emmeryn and Cordellia, and met Donnel, his,” Tharja paused, “‘best friend ever’, through Fire Emblem. He was very effective, though he sometimes served as their Guide.”

“You speak in past tense?” Noted Robin.

“From what I can tell, he slowly stopped playing Fire Emblem around four years ago. Which is also around the time when he got married, whether it’s a cause or result, I’m not bothered to look into.” Robin could sense a collective wince go through the voice chat.

“Naa...that’s nyaw-ful.” Thankfully, the horrible pun broke the ice that had briefly coated the voice call.

“I’m thankful that Aaliyah understands what this game and you all mean to me.” Mustafa said, causing a warmth slip through Robin, and she knew the others felt it as well.

“I’m thankful that I am able to play with you too!”

“Indeed!”

“Same here.”

“You betcha!”

“Yes.”

“Agreed.”

“It’s a similar story for the next three, so I won’t go into too many details.”

“Fine by me.” Robin consented, and various agreements to her statement came through the speakers.

“Robert Crowder, Snype, their Mage, a Ranger-Sorcerer, went to the same high school as Donnel, Emmeryn, and Cordellia, but he stopped playing around three years ago for undisclosed reasons.”

“Jack Bowers, LKO, a Trickster with a main Assassin class, though he was mostly Sidelined in the tournament five years ago because of a sickness. It seems he was in the guild because it was ‘local’ players. Two years ago, he switched to Warhammer.” A snort came through the voice call, but it was silent when Robin glanced at the user icons.

“Phila McKeehan, Annand, was the Second at the tournament from five years ago, though she often times served as Guide. She was in ROTC at the time, and shortly after the tournament, was deployed, and has been stationed overseas ever since.”

It was quiet, as the guild let the information sink in. Then Gaius sighed.

“He switched to Warhammer.” Nowi giggled, Gregor chortled, and Henry crowed in laughter. “Leauge or Smite, okay, but Warhammer? Why?”

“Maybe he just couldn’t _craft_ up the courage to try and _smite_ others that were out of his _league_?”

“That’s pushing it a bit, Henry.”

“Hey, with all that _strife_ going all, maybe he couldn’t _hammer_ out the _runes_ properly to make heads or tails of it all?”

“Oh my god, stop. You’re gonna kill me.” Nowi choked, a thumping sound coming from her side.

“Now now, boy, no killing little Nowi.” Gregor scolded, though it sounded like he was trying to hold in his laughter.

Robin allowed her lips to twitch upward, letting her guildmates have their fun for a while before returning to the topic at hand.

“Were you able to find anything else about Emmeryn?” The laughter died down as Tharja hummed. It was a heavy hum, one which caused an itch to crawl up Robin’s right arm.

“Nothing too special about her specifically, but the rest of her family is a different story. Her parents, Peter and Elizabeth Emert, were married exactly one week after her birth, so-.”

“Shotgun!” Gaius called out, before realizing who was in the call. “Sorry, Rainbow.” At least he sounded apologetic.

“It’s fine.” Nowi sighed, while the disappointment from Mustafa and Gregor was palpable, Robin shivered from the ice that was coming from Tharja’s ends. Deciding to spare Gaius publicly but scold him privately, Robin poked the conversation along.

“Was it from both sides of their families or just one?” Tharja was coating her monitor in ice, Robin could tell, but she would probably extract punishment later. Or at least, Robin hoped so.

“The pressure probably came from Elizabeth’s side of the family. Traditional, large Southern family, very conservative. Peter was the heir apparent to his father’s firm, a York company. If I were to guess, and I believe I’m correct, which I often am, Emmeryn was going to be the heir to the company. Hence the lawyer studies.”

“And the grandfather’s still around.”

“Still kicking, though how, I’m surprised.” Tharja humphed. “Nothing too interesting on Elizabeth’s side. Although the kids were with their aunt instead of the grandfather.”

“Yeah, you’d think an old bookworm would want to keep ‘em close. So they don’t get into trouble.”

“Like playing video games.”

“Because video games cause violence in young children.” Nowi laughed. “Two hours of video games to five hours of TV? Which one’s worse?”

“Video games,” said Gregor seriously, “every time.”

“Everything in moderation.” Mustafa reminded gently. “I wouldn’t let my children have free reign of anything. Self-control.”

“We know, Must-sama.”

“Although the two siblings...” The voice call settled down, and Robin could feel all attention on her. “ _Robin_ , you said the player who contacted you was called Chromium?”

“That’s correct.” Tharja hummed.

“That sounds very similar to the brother, Chrom. It’s even spelled the same way. Interesting, no...?”

“You think they’re the same?” Nowi chirped.

“A pretty large coincidence if they’re not the same, no?” Gregor shrugged.

“That’s such a noob move, naming your character after you.” Noted Gaius. “You want your info spread on the net? Granted not all info-pullers are as good as Sunshine, but still. Leaves a sour taste in my mouth.”

“Yeah, Tharja’s the best, like ever!” Henry crowed cheerfully. “No one’s as good as her!”

“I bet that Fire Emblem is his first game ever.”

“Bet ten.” Challenged Gregor, to which Gaius agreed,

“You’re on.”

“I’m witness!” Nowi cheered.

Mustafa prompted, “Robin?” and the others went silent, waiting for her. Robin rubbed the back of her hand.

“The thought crossed my mind, but without anything to back it up, all I had was a suspicion.” She sighed, then admitted, “it kept bugging me, so I looked him up during my break, and it looks like he was a star jock all through high school. Hardly the type to play video games.” _Hardly one of us._ “Without more proof, poking into it seems like a waste of resources.” A thoughtful quiet settled over the call, not awkward at all.

“Mommy?” A child’s voice came through the call, and all attention went to Nowi’s chibi dragon icon.

“Nah, sweetie, what are you doing awake?” There was a sniffle from Nowi’s end, the sound of small footsteps.

“Mommy...I’m-” a hiccup, “I’m sorry.” A soft sigh from Nowi.

“Guys, Nah wet the bed. I need to go.”

“Understood, Nowi.” Mustafa said gently as Nah gave a cry, and Nowi shushed her softly. “Do you have a vote on what to do?”

“Oh, I’m totally interested in pairing up. Let me know the details when they come. Love you guys. Good night, and don’t let the bedbugs bite. Shh, Nah, it’s okay-” Nowi’s icon went dark as she dropped out of the call.

“Sleep well, Nah. Sleep well, Nowi.” Gregor said softly.

Robin sighed. It was time to see what everyone was thinking, then.

“Henry? Thoughts?”

“If the info’s good, I don’t see any problems. If they do cause problems, we’ll just send ‘em a solid hex or two. Maybe even a curse!” A sigh from Mustafa’s end. “No one messes with us and gets away with it!” The declaration made Robin’s heart warm.

“Gregor?”

“Gregor does not understand truly what the problem with joining them, but it will help us grow stronger quicker, then why not?”

“Okay, Mustafa?”

“As I said earlier, it’s an interesting proposal. In my opinion, it would not hurt, but it is ultimately your decision.”

“Oh...okay.” She shifted in her chair.

“Oh...Gaius.” Tharja said, breaking her silence, “you might want to change all your account passwords. It seems that they’ve been...spread on the net.” The redhead swore.

“What the hell was that for, Sunshine?”

“For not minding your mouth earlier.” Tharja drawled in a matter-of-fact tone. “You better move quickly. You know how quickly things move.”

“Screw ya too.” Gaius snapped, breathing heavy. “Bubbles, I’m not a big fan of this, but if ya think it’s a good idea, I’ll follow. See ya.” His candy icon went dark immediately, and a heavy silence settled over the call. Mustafa was the one to break it.

“Tharja, did you truly put his passwords on the internet?” The disappointment was palpable.

“Nooo,” she continued to drawl, “but he doesn’t need to know that.” Henry snickered.

“Not very nice, little girl.” Gregor sighed.

“Quiet, old man. He had it coming. Besides, changing your passwords regularly is a good practice.”

“Will you tell him truth if asked?” The older man asked, a touch of disappointment still detectable.

“If he asks, then maayybe.” And that was as good as anyone was going to get from her, so Robin continued.

“Anyways, Tharja?” The woman on the other end of the speakers thought a moment.

“I’ll run a more in-depth background check on the suspected active members and their close associates. If nothing comes up...yes, I suppose.”

“Understood.”

“Robin, what about you?” Henry asked suddenly.

“Me?” She tilted her head.

“Yeah, what do you wanna do?”

“I did say it would be a good thing for us.”

“Okay, but what do you think?”

“...”

“You haven’t voiced your thoughts on the matter, Robin.” Mustafa agreed.

“It’s good for the guild-”

“No, _your_ thoughts.” Mustafa cut her off, tone stern. “What Robin the player thinks, not Robin the guildmaster.”

Silence.

“Robin?” Henry tentatively asked. The young woman leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk.

“I don’t like it.” She ground the heels of her hands into her eyes. “I don’t like that we’re struggling, and that we have to join others to get going, and I don’t like that it’s The Ylissians who came to us for the same damn reason. Two guilds that once fought over the same thing, now helping each other? It sounds like it’s out of some poorly written video game. Like, two characters who’re supposed to be enemies meet up and join forces? That’s what this feels like to me.”

“Like we’re following some game script?” Henry was perched on the edge of his seat.

“Yeah, like that.”

“So it’s like we’re in a video game.” He deduced. “I saw this post on reddit, and it said that we were in a video game, and the fridge is a save point. That’s why a _punch_ of people just stare into it and then wander away!”

Robin snorted.

“Heavy mood broken.” Gregor declared.

“I’ve seen that post before, but the pun was horrible.”

“Hey, gotta _milk_ it for all it’s worth.” The boy said cheerfully. “ _Thaw the ice a little_ , you know? Honestly, Robin, _mustard_ you be so serious all the time?”

Tharja sighed, Mustafa snorted, Gregor chuckled, and Henry cackled with glee. Robin sucked in a lungful of air, held it for five seconds, before releasing it, breathing in again, and holding it for five more seconds. Then she smiled.

“Thanks Henry.”

“No problem!” He cheered, throwing a (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ into the chat. Robin let out her breath again.

“Two against five. Tharja, let me know when you’re done with your research. I’ll contact Chromium and set a meeting to iron details.”

“In game?” asked Henry.

“In game.” Robin agreed. “There’s no way in hell I’m giving him my Discord ID.” Although she still didn’t feel comfortable meeting him alone. “I think it would be appropriate for the guild’s Second to join in the conversation.” The invitation was extended.

“It would be appropriate.” The invitation was accepted. A sense of relief washed over her. Having a veteran Second settled her nerves a bit.

“Thank you.” Scanning the list of icons and names, mentally sorting and debating, Robin asked,

“Tharja, would you be interested in joining the discussion?”

“Of course, Robin. But why?”

“You’re the main Guide.”

“I suppose, as long as my employees don’t cause me trouble.” She drawled.

“Make sure to extend the same invitation to the Ylissians.” Mustafa reminded, tapping his mic.

“......okay.” Robin agreed.

“If I’m not needed, I’m going to go start running the Ylissian’s contacts.” Tharja announced.

“I don’t have anything. Mustafa?”

“You’re free to go.”

“With Gaius and Nowi out, everyone’s free to do their own thing tonight.”

“ _Robin_ , I’ll DM you when I have my findings. Unless you need something sooner~”

“I’m good.” She curtly replied.

“Until later, then.”

“See yah, Tharja!”

“Bye, little girl.” Tharja’s caldron icon went dark.

“If we’re not gonna train, I’m going to head off and do some other stuff.” Henry hummed.

“Same here.” Gregor nodded.

“Alright, we’ll keep you updated.”

“Good night, Henry, Gregor.”

“‘night, Mustafa, Robin!” Henry crowed, while Gregor said a simple, “Good night.” Gregor’s hammer icon went dark ,and Henry’s raven icon went orange as he dropped out of the call. Leaving Mustafa and Robin.

“What are you doing for the rest of the night?” Mustafa asked after a few beats of silence.

“Maybe some quest research, possibly watch some week recap videos. Something productive.” He hummed thoughtfully.

“I forgot to mention it in our call earlier, but Aaliyah wants to know if you can come over for supper on Friday.”

“Friday?” Picking up her phone and navigating to the calendar, a quick look confirmed, “I get off work later than usual, but I’ll be there.”

“Okay.” A moment of quiet, then, “Robin, it’s okay to take risks.”

“Not if someone gets hurt.” The answer came without thought.

“Getting hurt is part of life.”

“It should be avoided.”

“Recovering and growing stronger from it is the test we all face.” A moment’s pause, then, “you no longer have to struggle alone.”

“...” She rested one palm against her monitor, over the list of server members. “I know...” Deep breath. “I know...but I don’t want the others to suffer for my mistakes.”

“They won’t, because you’re not him. You care for your guildmates. Would you abandon them?” Her gaze hardened at the monitor.

“Never.”

“And they will not abandon you.” His tone was warm, comforting, a blanket from the city’s cold. “The guild together is stronger than a single player alone. This guild, together, is stronger than the guild that once was. Your bonds give you strength. Trust your guild.”

“...” Push away the fear. Push away the doubt. Accept the bonds they had made. Know that they were stronger than ice. “I do...I try.” Fear would try to creep back in, whispering that she was alone, that she could only trust herself.

That voice was a liar, and she knew it, even when it was hard to believe. She knew that Mustafa would not let her sleep out in the cold again, that Henry would not let her be in pain. She understood the wordless promise from Nowi that she would always have a shoulder to lean on, and that Tharja’s intentions, under all the snark and flirting, were true. Gaius would sooner abandon his love of sweets than betray her, and Gregor would be her shield without hesitation if asked.

“This guild, together, is stronger than the guild that once was.” Robin repeated, drawing strength from each word. “Our bonds give us strength.”

“The phoenix will rise, no matter how many times it falls.”

“The phoenices will rise.”

“Do not forget it, child. And rest tonight.” The corner of her lips tugged up.

“I make no promises.”

“At least try.”

“I make no promises.” A sigh, but not an unhappy one. Resignation, with a touch of humor.

“Good night, Robin.”

“Good night...Mustafa.” Robin dropped out of the call, followed by Mustafa. After a moment, his dragon icon went dark.

Sucking in a deep breath and engraving the words from their conversation into her brain, Robin smiled, pressing her palms together.

Then her lips dipped into a small frown. Navigating to the home tab, Robin clicked on Gaius’s candy icon.

Reflekt#95851 Today at 9:34 PM You’re a dumbass, you know that right? T’s punished you enough, but if you say something stupid like that again, you might be put on prohibition, and even then I’ll probably be the least of your worries.

If he was stupid again, Tharja might be tempted to put some of his least important passwords out in the open and let him suffer. The young barista was protective of Nowi to an extreme degree. Just because the Plegian’s computers were protected by Tharja’s firewalls and antiviruses didn’t mean their personal account information was safe.

Letting out a puff of air, Robin’s gaze turned to the wall.

There was something each of them held tight onto, that was taboo to speak of. Gaius had invoked Nowi’s tonight, even though he didn’t mean to. She would have preferred a shotgun wedding to what she got instead. But there was nothing any of them could do about that now. All they could do was live in the present. All they could do was move forward, doing the best they could to survive, to live.

Together.

* * *

The next morning, Robin found a private message waiting in her discord.

SilveredSoul#52666 Today at 1:54 AM Nothing suspicious about any of them, especially on a financial level. Of course, I can always run them again, if you ask me to :purple_heart:

The confirmation from Tharja, minus the flirting, helped settle her nerves. There was a reason why Tharja was the guild’s main guide. Her uncanny ability to pull information off the internet, or any computer, for that matter, could have landed her a six digit job. But instead, she shared her talents with them. Helping Robin with keeping tabs on the Top 10 and Rank 4, pulling quest info, and single-handedly protecting them digitally from anyone who tried to mess with their computers. Her hexes and curses, as Henry called them, were government level. Very little could hide from her.

There was a bit of time before she had to go to work, so she logged onto Fire Emblem. Chromium was offline, which was fine by Robin.

"Chromium, my guild is interested in your proposal. My Second and another member of my guild would like to join me in the discussion of a possible pair-up. Would meeting at the Sable Centre around 18 PST in two days work for you?

The invitation was sent. Now all there was to do was see where it went from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing against Warhammer, I swear.  
> Valkyrie - A powerful female warrior who is often depicted on a pegasus. Seems fitting for Cordelia.  
> Ironwill - Stahl is German for Steel, and iron is a common component of steel. Also, a ship I support.  
> Forrester - Modern-day Donnel watched Forest Grump a lot...no need to explain further.  
> Longhorn - From a breed of cattle. Snype - Misspelling of Sniper. LKO - Seemed like a generic name. Annand - Pegasus Knight captain from Genealogy of the Holy War.


End file.
